Gluten-free? You’ve still got beer choices!

Initially, when my husband and I made the decision to move to a gluten-free diet, for his gluten intolerance, we accepted that this would mean a beerless reality for the foreseeable future (this was especially evident when we were each constantly reminded by coworkers, “Wow, gluten-free? So, no more beer, huh?”)–or so we thought. After about six months of no alcohol of any kind, we decided it was time to investigate our beer options. We knew hard cider was a shoo-in, being naturally gluten-free (I recommend McKenzie’s Hard Cider), but my husband prefers dark beer, so he wasn’t exactly thrilled at the only cider thought.

In Wegmans’ International Beer Section, we found a few fantastic gluten-free beers: my favorite was Green’s Quest Tripel Blonde Ale and his favorite was Green’s Endeavour Dubbel Dark Ale. They were “real” beer, for real beer drinkers! The Tripel Blonde Ale was light and refreshing. Although I don’t favor dark beers, the taste I had of the Dubble Dark Ale was pretty great. It didn’t have the aftertaste that I have come to associate with dark beer and my husband loved it. (Just keep in mind, each beer is 16.9 oz, or 500 ml, so big!) Hooray! See, no reason to despair over your gluten-free life… The second-runner-up, and considerably less expensive, was Redbridge. Not bad, but not Green’s.